How To Contain Madagascar’s Plague Crisis

Madagascar's plague epidemic is moving so quickly that containment is necessary now

I am very pleased that we have been able to very quickly create a visual tool for the prevention of the further spread of the plague in Madagascar.”

— Firdaus Kharas

OTTAWA, CANADA, October 24, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The first waves of a new plague epidemic are washing over the island nation of Madagascar and Chocolate Moose Media (CMM) is responding with a new video aimed at containing the disease.

Cases of pneumonic and bubonic plague have tripled during the previous week to nearly 1,500 (including 124 deaths) and are reaching a tipping point for a full-scale epidemic. Therefore the immediacy of the video’s release is vital. CMM has used lessons from its series that helped with 2014’s Ebola epidemic in West Africa because many of both diseases’ means of contact and transmission are similar.

Tell The People, My Sister is a 5:46 animated video that informs Madagascar’s 25-million residents to avoid exchanging body fluids, such as through coughing, and especially to have no contact with rats and other carriers, whether alive or dead. There are also elements in the video that confront the stigma of those who have the disease and urge those showing symptoms to seek medical attention immediately.

The video is available in three languages - the island’s native Malagasy, English and French - and three broadcast formats: high definition, standard and 3GP for mobile applications. CMM is urging people and organizations to view and download the video from Youtube or Vimeo and use it for any necessary purpose. As with all of CMM’s work, there are no charges or use restrictions.

“I am very pleased that we have been able to very quickly create a visual tool for the prevention of the further spread of the plague in Madagascar. Animation overcomes the barriers to education like literacy and provides viewers with a clear understanding of the causes and transmission of the plague,” says Firdaus Kharas, CMM founder.

Those involved in the original making of the Ebola videos have put aside other projects and donated their work on Tell The People, My Sister for free, including co-writer Brent Quinn, animator Artha Animation, composer and editor Andrew Huggett and tropical-medicine adviser Dr. Kunal Patel. The Canadian Embassy to Madagascar has also been helpful to the project.

About Chocolate Moose Media

Chocolate Moose Media (CMM) is the world’s leading producer of animated behaviour-change communications aimed at solving health and social issues around the world. Led by renowned social innovator, director and humanitarian Firdaus Kharas, CMM produces animation, documentaries, videos and television series designed to educate, entertain and change societal and individual behaviour to positively influence viewers’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour, especially those of children and young adults, in order to better the human condition. More than 3,500 animated videos in 188 language versions are available online in a Vimeo channel. For further information visit www.chocmoose.com.